The Travelers (short story)

Short story by Toshio Mori centering on two groups of inmates as they leave Topaz . One group of nine are those leaving the camp permanently to " resettle " in areas outside the restricted area of the West Coast; the other group consists of those who are visiting town briefly to shop or to see off relatives before returning to the camp. Those leaving for good includes a soldier leaving for the battlefront and being seen off by his mother, as well as those leaving for jobs in cities such as New York and Chicago . As the resettlers exchange information about their destinations, the soldier is drawn to an attractive young woman heading to Chicago, but does not speak to her. After the train leaves, a white family offers a ride to town to the mother of the soldier. "The Travelers" originally appeared in the Topaz literary publication All Aboard in 1944 and was republished in Mori's short story collections The Chauvinist and Other Stories in 1979 and Unfinished Message: Selected Works of Toshio Mori in 2000.

Might also like " Topaz Mosaic " by Toshio Mori; " Nurse " by Masaharu Hane; " The Summer of '43 " by Noboru Endow